These islands, the Tuamotus, lie so low and shine so bright. Each one makes a hoop on the ocean — circular from above, but long and linear from water level.
So beautiful and so harsh. A perch from which to return to the ocean.
Debora Kimitete showed us how to slam the car door correctly, so it wouldn’t fly open again. We would spend the day in her Land Rover that has had more adventures than I could ever hope for. The streets of Taiohae are full of memories for Debora, but an important place to begin was…
And now for something completely different! French Polynesia in the Tuamotus. The coral, the palms, the secrets they keep. What stories will we find here? I am listening.
We came to this atoll to take a break from the towns, but when we saw some small buildings in the distance, Eric and I took a zodiac over to check them out. We found two people working their coconut grove: harvesting coconuts and drying them. We stopped for a visit and met a little…
Our first story about the French Polynesian island of Makatea came out on May 4, 2021 with Hakai Magazine. There’s also an audio edition, which was a lot of fun for me to read! Now the story is running again, this time in French, with Courrier International. This will make the story more accessible for…
Teamwork was key to our time in the Marquesas. While I was mostly finding people to talk to, like Nicolas Haiti and his son Naura inside their coconut oven in Taipivai, Nuku Hiva, Eric Guth (photographer) and Matt Mastrantuono (filmmaker) were never far away. I’ll admit it: I don’t like drones. From beeping…
Matt has been making films for over a decade. His feature film, Chasing Sarasota, had a theatrical tour in over 30 cities on four continents. Matt was also a writer and producer for the Showtime documentary, Glena, where he helped take the no-budget, indie feature from a living room in Portland, Oregon to a major…